A teenager who stabbed three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The prosecution have made it clear that these proceedings were not acts of terrorism within the meaning of the terrorism legislation
00:07because there is no evidence that Rudi Cabana's purpose was to advance political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
00:16I must accept that conclusion.
00:19However, in my judgement, his culpability for this extreme level of violence is equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist murders, whatever his purpose.
00:28Whether his motivation was for terrorism or not misses the point.
00:32What he did on the 29th of July last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation that it must be viewed as being at the very extreme level of crime.
00:43I do not, however, take into account against him what happened in different parts of the country after his arrest.
00:50He did not cause that.
00:53Axel Rudi Cabana was born in Cardiff on the 7th of August of 2006.
00:59He is a UK citizen, now aged 18, but was still 17 when he committed these offences.
01:06He was only 9 days short of his 18th birthday, which has a particular significance.
01:14Had he been 18, I make it clear that I would have been compelled to impose on him life imprisonment without a minimum term,
01:22otherwise known as a whole life term, meaning that he would never be released.
01:27However, the law does not permit such a sentence for those offenders who are under 18 when they offend.
01:34For the offence of murder on counts 1, 2 and 3, the sentence must be custody for life.
01:40I am required to fix the minimum term which he must serve in custody before he may apply to the parole board for his release.
01:49It will be for the board to decide if he is ever safe to be released into the community,
01:54and if ever he is, he will remain unlicensed for the rest of his life, subject to recall into custody if he breaches his licence terms.
02:03The minimum term I will fix will be a very substantial one, and the very least he will be detained,
02:09which will mean that he will serve almost the whole of his life in custody.
02:14I consider at this time that it is likely he will never be released, and that he will be in custody for all his life.
02:21In mitigation for this offending, Rudi Cabana is still only 18 years old.
02:26However, I consider that his age has already provided him with a substantial reduction in his sentence,
02:32because it means that he has avoided a whole life term.
02:36Whilst he has entered guilty pleas, saving the families and victims the pain of a trial, he cannot claim to have shown any remorse.
02:45His unsolicited comments in the police station may clear his feelings.
02:49However, lack of remorse is not an aggravating factor.
02:53In sentencing, I will impose concurrent sentences, meaning they will all be served at the same time.
02:59However, I will treat the murder offences in counts 1 to 3 as the lead offences,
03:05and take into account all of the total offending when fixing the minimum term of custody he must serve.
03:12Also, I have in mind the totality of the sentences, requiring me to take a step back and consider whether they are just and proportionate,
03:20and I conclude that they are.
03:23The guilty pleas will allow some small discount on the sentence, because they were entered so late on the first day of the trial.
03:30I am now going to sentence Axel Rudi Cabana, having explained my reasons.
03:36On counts 1 to 3 murder, I sentence him to custody for life, with a minimum term which he must serve in custody of 52 years,
03:45less the time he has served already.
03:48He has been in custody for 175 days on remand, which will be credited.
03:53Therefore, the minimum term is 51 years and 190 days.
03:57Accordingly, in total, I sentence Rudi Cabana to 13 sentences of custody for life,
04:03and a minimum term to be served in custody of 51 days and 190 days.
04:09It is highly likely that he will never be released.